The invention relates to devices to facilitate lifesaving and particularly to facilitating artificial respiration.
Emergency methods in use today include mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and various direct passage tube structures intended to facilitate mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The structures include those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,006,337; 3,013,554; 3,106,916; 3,407,910; and 3,538,913. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation both with and without such structures has not been wholly satisfactory, in part, because of: (a) the natural repugnance most people have of putting their mouth on a patient's mouth when the patient has vomit or saliva on his mouth, (b) the difficulty of aligning the respective mouths and in maintaining an opening for proper resuscitation to take place, (c) the difficulty of controlling the exhaust air flow rate from the patient while he is exhaling, (d) the lack of confidence most people have giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation because of a concern that the patient may die, (e) fear of germ transmission, (f) fear of being bitten, (g) the difficulty of maintaining sufficient pressure to seal the respective mouths and the associated problem of resultant injury to the face, lips and teeth of both the patient and the lifesaver, (h) the inclination of many people to avoid various problems by waiting for professional help to arrive with special equipment and this delay may aggravate the patient's condition and may even be fatal in some cases, (i) the awkwardness of the patient's position in some cases, and (j) the lack of all known sanitary features in the existing apparatus so that the the patient's breath, saliva, and possibly vomit can foul the device or contaminate the lifesaver's mouthpiece.
It is an object of the invention is to provide a sanitary, safe, easy-to-use resuscitation device which may be readily utilized to provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
It is still another object of the invention to provide apparatus which overcomes the various problems with the prior art.